


For the Sake of Metahumanity

by Krysawyr



Category: Merlin (TV), Shadowrun
Genre: M/M, Science Fiction, Shadowrun - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-04-29 16:15:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14476419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krysawyr/pseuds/Krysawyr
Summary: "How long has it been?" The man asked softly."One thousand five hundred and seventy six years," Merlin said, "to the day.""You've waited this long?" Arthur almost laughed. "Of course," Merlin said.This is the city map:  https://imgur.com/xkjk6S6





	1. Avalon

Magic had been gone from the world for a millennium before it was reawakened. The initial response from humanity was backlash, humankind resented change and when children began being born as orks and trolls, able to communicate with AI telepathically and control the world around them with new magic, orphanages began filling quickly with the newly named metahumans. 

Merlin had lived through so many phases of humanity, evil men rose and fell leading to others, he was left nearly emotionless. So he hardly flinched at the disregard for life. World wars had become common place to the point governments began launching nuclear warheads during simple resource disputes. Nuclear weapons had become so commonplace, in fact, they were leaking out onto the streets. 

The push against the corrupt governments across the world started in Japan, bringing rise to 日本帝国 or the japanese imperial state, where metahumanity could live with humans in shaky peace, it was, by no means perfect, it was a caste like system in fact, but the race wars had died down so much, it was the only beacon of hope for metahumans worldwide. The humans still had control of the government, and on the British Isles at least, it had become so extreme and so conservative, it had nearly become fascist. The ostracized children grew faster than their peers, their ork and troll bodies quicker to mature. The race wars became commonplace, and with the magic they possessed, along with their tank like bodies, nothing short of missiles could stop them. 

Merlin was taking his daily walk past the lake, Avalon, when he heard it. Despite being nearly as old as the nation itself, having fought in almost every war he thought a worthy cause in his country’s name, he still looked like a 20 year old man with the wisdom of an 100 year old. When he heard the voice, it felt familiar in his soul, but his ears deceived him.   
“Hello?” The voice called again into the wind, almost pleading to be heard.   
Merlin walked towards the man on a stranger’s legs, it was as if he had no control of his own body. The man was of average height, good, sturdy build, but he looked small. Folded in on himself, clutching his knees, shivering in his wet clothing. Just another crack in the facade he’d build around himself in life that had almost entirely shattered before his passing. His hair was shaggy and a short beard had grown on his chin, both a pale green with algae growth, from so long under water. He coughed up another lungful of water.   
“My liege,” Merlin said softly, bending on one knee before his king.   
“Merlin?” Arthur asked standing up.  
“Yes?” He asked looking up, tears in his eyes. He’d played this moment through his mind so many times it was impossible to count, but in none was the man so calm. It didn’t matter either way, Merlin had tears rolling down his face now, he was so relieved to see the man again.   
“How long has it been?” The man asked softly.  
“1 thousand five hundred and seventy six years,” Merlin said, “to the day.”   
“You’ve waited this long?” Arthur almost laughed.   
“Of course,” Merlin said  
Arthur pulled him to his feet and embraced him. Merlin wrapped his thin, tired arms around the man. They were more than best friends; they were soulmates. After centuries of floating through existence, he finally had a purpose. He finally felt whole again.   
“You buffoon,” Arthur said with a laugh.


	2. Catching Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After awakening from his rest in Avalon, Arthur joins Merlin at his house.

Arthur was absolutely starving so before they did anything else, Merlin helped the man to his house. Wales was unrecognizable to the former king. Urbanization had run rampant through Europe so that even Wales, land of great mountains, valleys, and seashores, had only one of it's natural beauties left. The mountains had been mostly leveled, mined of all their resources, covered in cities. The natural seashores had been extended out to allow for more buildings. The valleys were the only bit left of the old country, the sheep long gone, the people long dead. Nearly every river was past the mature stage, the banks eroded to the point they were hardly even there. The rivers weren't visible anyway though, cities were built up on top of them, so the rivers run beneath them in man-made caves. Avalon was one of the few lakes left above ground in fact, Merlin had made sure of it, he'd been able to become very influential several different times throughout history to be sure of these sorts of things.

The walk was past the bullet train, which terrified Arthur until Merlin informed him it wouldn't leave the track; by several skyscrapers of all shapes and sizes, which both amazed and confused Arthur; under several flying cars, Arthur still didn't understand how the bullet train worked, let alone cars that could fly; and through a group of kids playing around with magic under a bridge. Merlin had a lot of explaining to do. 

Once at Merlin’s humble apartment, the warlock worked to get his King comfortable. He wrapped the man in a blanket to warm him up. He took out several books and even a few tapestries he had saved from the old castle for when the Once and Future King returned. He ran a warm bath for Arthur and rushed about making the sitting room as familiar as he could.  
“I’ve tried to keep the place as familiar as possible,” Merlin said, taking some food from the kitchen. Soy was really the only thing that was still grown, everything that wasn't artificial flavoring was soy based. Tofu Chicken was to be the king's welcome home meal, it wasn't much, but there wasn't much Merlin had.  
“It's tiny,” Arthur shivered. Merlin shrugged.  
“Welcome to the future.”

After his tofu, which he disliked quite a bit, Melin helped him with a bath. Arthur was very glad to feel such warm water; although Merlin had to explain it wasn't sorcery, but technology. He found himself saying as much often over the next hour. The two men were walking through the house. Arthur was catching up with his friend’s long life and Merlin was teaching him about the new technology. 

Once they got to his bedroom, Merlin gently opened a case and handed Arthur a small medallion. It was a perfect replica of the silver dragon Arthur had given Gwen at their wedding, down to the French Azurite scales down it's back and the large blue diamond in its front claw, the only difference was it was facing the opposite direction and its mouth was open, teeth bared.  
“Gwen,” Arthur whispered.  
“She was a great queen,” Merlin said softly.  
“Did she rewed?” He asked.  
“Never. But, she was pregnant at your passing,” Merlin explained, taking a painting of the woman and a young man, similar in every way to his father, but age and skin, from his desk, “He was named after you. I helped her raise him of course. He eventually made magic legal again, slowly at first, with my help.”  
“Was he a good man?”  
“One of the best, died too young, like his father in every way, despite never meeting you, at least it was peaceful.”  
Arthur couldn't continue the conversation.  
“Whose amulet is this?” Arthur asked, “was it his?” Merlin shook his head no.  
“I had another made when it became clear you wouldn't be back for a few generations at least. Started a legend so they wouldn't forget,” He said, “the Royal family know the amulet you gave Gwen, she handed it down to, um, your daughter in law, it's become a secret family heirloom.”  
“You’ve really thought this through.”  
“I've had a lot of time.”


	3. Chapter 3

Merlin’s name had been lorded by Arthur's grandson so he was able to get a hearing with the King relatively easily, however it would be awhile. In the meantime they were fitted for suits.   
“I don’t understand why they can’t function with this magic,” Arthur said as they were waiting, “Even when people were illegally using it we weren’t in constant race wars.”  
“Magic died out over a millennium ago, with the old religion,” Merlin said, “it’s only just come back, they think its due to the radiation from the nuclear wars.”   
“Pendragon.” the AI called.   
A robotic taylor was what fitted them, it was able to send the orders out right away as well, so they left within a few minutes with their new suit.   
“Where’d you get the money for this?” Arthur asked, looking at the prices.  
“I invested in cryptocurrency when it was getting started, society practically runs on it now,” He shrugged, then realized he should explain that a bit better. 

They headed back to the flat and Merlin sat him down to try and explain the situation in the UK. 

They sat on the couch and Merlin told him everything, he’d become quite good at telling tales after decades of it. He told him about the end of the war against Morgana, the birth of his son, Gwen’s life and death, Arthur the second’s life, illness, and death. Then he skipped ahead to the turn of the century; the 1900s. He told him about the rise and fall of capitalism, the three world wars, the cold wars, communism, fascism, libertarianism, nuclear power, weapons, and more. 

“This is going to take awhile, I want to meet the people, understand their side of things.” Arthur told Merlin, who nodded.   
“We can go downtown tomorrow if you’d like.”   
“Yes, that sounds good,” Arthur said, “shall we get ready for bed then?”   
“Yeah,” Merlin nodded.   
They headed to Merlin’s bedroom, where he lent Arthur some pajamas. They’d have to shop for more clothes again tomorrow.   
“Where do you sleep?” Arthur asked as he climbed into the bed.   
Merlin laughed,   
“Where do you think clotpole?” Merlin teased, “I’ve got the couch, don’t worry, Sire.” He said exaggerating the last word.   
“Goodnight. Idiot.”  
“Goodnight. Royal Ass.”

The next day Merlin woke up early and got breakfast ready for Arthur. He made tofu scrambled eggs and soy bacon. THe scent itself woke Arthur up, and he tiredly walked out to the kitchen.   
“What is that?”  
“Scrambled eggs and bacon.”   
“It smells amazing.”   
“Well sit down, I’ll get it served up.” Merlin said, Arthur did with out complaint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm working on the next chapter, but it might take a bit, I wanted to get something up though


	4. Chapter 4

The trip out had to be planned out carefully, Arthur wanted to be able to speak with people from every walk of life. He needed an idea of the lay of the land.   
Merlin drew a triangle.   
“This is Meririmoto, the city we’re in.” He drew a circle in the center of the triangle. “That’s Cyfarthafa, that's where we are, these are the most expensive houses and most of the large stores, this is also where the large companies, the mega corps, are. It's only humans living here, only we can be this close to the castle,” He cut the rest of the triangle into 14 sections. He pointed to the top sections, skipping the second one, “Goriddo, Galon, Penibirin, Penidaren, and Doorase, this is where the Trolls live.”   
“What about that area?” Arthur asked pointing to the one he’d skipped.  
“That's Erinoki, that's pretty much just humans.” He pointed to the right side of the map. “This is Cymmer Machi and Yama Hare, where the mountain was, mostly dwarves there.”  
“What happened to the mountain?”   
“They mined it down so much it's only a hill now.” He pointed to the next three. “Penitebachi, Ysgubor Atarashi, and Abakanadio, mostly Orks here. And these two,” he pointed to two more sections on the left, “Morugan Machi and Jooji Machi, elves.”   
“You missed one.”  
“Oh yeah, that's Toyon Machi, that's humans and a few elves.” Merlin said.   
“Ok, shall we start with the trolls?” Arthur said, standing up.  
“Very well,” Merlin nodded. 

This time, rather than just going downstairs to the taylor they headed down the street towards the castle, Castle Cyfarthafa, which now acted as the main maglev station. Artur was looking around in amazement, glowing neon lights shone brightly, even in the daytime, since the sky was so cloudy, people walked around while above them AI cars drove on the clear glass roads, clear, but cloudy, solar panels beneath them. What does the street sign say? Below the words “Castle Road” it read “城道.”  
“That says ‘shiro michi,’ it’s Japanese for the street name, remember we have taken a lot of influences from Japan, much of the government’s advisors are from Japan since they’ve been able to make peace between metahumanity.” Merlin explained as they continued walking.   
“How do you read that?” Arthur asked,   
“A lot of memorization, patience, and context clues.” Merlin laughed.  
Arthur nodded walking along with his friend. The castle was just ahead and they jumped onto a maglev tram once they got there. Arthur was amazed by how fast and quiet they were.   
“I expected this to be loud at the very least!” He whispered to Merlin.  
Merlin smiled,  
“They were before maglev technology.”   
It worked out too since nothing people had was magnetic anymore really, most things were plastic based since they’d been changing so much to avoid metal detectors.   
“See that big building there?” Merlin asked pointing to the large glass skyscraper they were passing. Arthur nodded. “That’s Ares Macrotech, they make most of the weapons in the area,” Merlin said, “And that,” He pointed to a shorter building, “is Mitsuhama Computer Tech,” He said, “They’re mostly a money laundering setup, but they do make some robots.”   
Arthur shook his head,   
“Robots?” he asked confused.  
“They’re like… well basically they’re machines that do the things people don’t want to. Like driving cars or making food,” Merlin said.   
Their section of the tram broke off from the others and headed down towards Goriddo through Erinoki. The quality of the buildings and even the clear roads decreased drastically in what seemed like seconds. By the time they were in Goriddo it was practically a different city. It was just as technologically advanced, if not slightly behind, but everything was in disrepair. And the people, Arthur assumed they were trolls, but they looked like normal people, not like the trolls he knew from his day, although they were very tall and wide, had massive overbites with long sharp teeth, oh and they all had horns, anywhere from 3 inches to a foot of all shapes.


	5. Chapter 5

They got off the maglev at the stop and headed down the stairs to the cracked street. The roads above weren’t buffed or cleaned here, instead they were covered in soot and dirt from the cars, as a result the whole neighborhood felt dark. The trolls wouldn’t mind though, as a matter of fact, their vision was best in the low light. 

They headed towards a bar, The Dusty Motherboard, a neon sign with a blinking motherboard hung overhead on one chain. Merlin followed Arthur in.   
The bar was filled with men of all sizes, all with long pointy ears, most with horns, but some without.  
“Are they all trolls?” Arthur asked quietly.   
Merlin shook his head, gesturing to the group in the corner without horns or lips, rather their teeth were connected to their face like a crocodile’s.  
“They’re orks, and they,” He gestured to a group of pretty, long haired men, “are elves.”   
Arthur nodded and walked up to the bar, sitting on a stool two down from a particularly large troll. Merlin sat on the other side of the blond. The bartender walked up, begrudgingly. He had a head of dirty blond hair that could be considered a mullet if his neck was any longer, but since he had such a short neck the hair in the back was still rather short. His horns were about five inches long, and curved backwards, and he had tusks protruding from his lower jaw about a half inch long.   
“Can we have–” Arthur started but Merlin interrupted.  
“Two soy beers,” Merlin said realizing Arthur knew nothing about the menu, which was also unhelpfully in Japanese. “An an order of soy chips.” he added.   
The troll, Mick, according to the chickenstratch name tag on his chest, grunted and turned to get their order ready. The bar was some sort of chain, all the bars in the city were, all but a few owned by the same company, though nobody could actually figure out what company since it kept “changing” it was likely a front for one of the zaibatsu.   
“Where are you two from?” The troll to Arthur’s right grunted, leaning back against the bar lazily. His gut was distended in quite the beer belly, he was apparently a regular.   
“Cyfarthafa,” Arthur answered, distracted as he watched Mick pick his nose while handling their glasses.   
“Get the frag outta here you piece of drek squish!” The troll growled standing up to his full height, easily two heads higher than Arthur. The orks in the corner started thumping their glasses against their table growling “fight” in their deep gravelly voices.   
Mick set the glasses down in front of them.   
“Relax, Tommy,” He said not really meaning it.   
But before anything else could come from it, the door was thrown open and three large men walked in, they were huge norse trolls, commonly known as Giants, their hair and skin was practically white, and they had no horns, though they did have tusks in their underbites anlong with long pointy noses. They had large gatling guns at their hips.   
“This is a hold up.”   
“Why?” Mick asked, visibly irritated that they’d interrupted his business. “I’m off in ten, couldn’t you wait until Georgie gets here?” He grumbled.   
Everyone else pulled out their own weapons, mostly handguns, though one of the elves had magic sparking between his fingers.   
“Ya picked the wrong bar, mate,” The troll next to Arthur said.   
“Do you know who we are?” one of the giants asked.  
“Does it look like I give a drek?” Tommy said.  
“The Halvorsen brothers,” the giant said ignoring his comment.  
“And I’m too drunk to care, you gonna shoot first or shall I?” He asked.   
The giants opened fire. Merlin’s eyes glowed amber as he waved nonchalantly his hand and the bullets froze in mid air and then clenched his fist, and the gatling guns crumbled like paper, rolled up into a ball. The bullets fell to the floor inches from the patrons. Merlin remained facing away from the door, eating his soy chips.  
“Who do you think you are wizard?” asked the giant who appeared to be the only one who could talk.   
“No one,” Merlin said shaking his head slightly.   
“You’re new around here, aren’chya?” he asked.  
Merlin shrugged.   
“Well let me tell you how this works, you get shot by us, we leverage the owner for money, we get the money, then we frag off,” He said gesturing with his hands. His brothers pulled out handguns.   
Merlin finally turned around. His eyes were glowing amber again.   
“Wait, what are you–” the guy on the talkative one’s left said as one of his guns began to shake. He fired three rounds towards Merlin, but they all stopped mid air. A bullet finally made its way out of his other gun via Merlin’s magic. It twisting around towards his midsection.  
“Please stop! We’ll leave!” The man said, but the bullet just kept moving, slowly inching towards him. He tried to stop it with his hands, trying to pluck the slow moving projectile out of the air, but it just crept through his hands slowly. His brothers tried to run to his side, trying to stop the bullet from continuing as well, but it was no use, all three’s feet were glued to the ground. The bullet finally made its way down to his abdomen, slowly burying itself through the man’s belly and into his spine less than an inch a second. He screamed in pain the whole time, and finally collapsed to the floor, paralyzed from that point down, as his brothers watched, frozen in fear, unable to move.   
“Get the hell out of this neighborhood,” Merlin muttered, his face expressionless.   
Arthur looked between him and the three giants. If he didn’t know Merlin better, he’d be terrified, actually, no, despite knowing him, he was horrified. The giants grabbed their brother and scampered out of the bar. The elf who’d been holding the crackling magic, threw himself to the ground.   
“Emrys have mercy on us!” He cried.   
“Get up, there’s no need for that,” Merlin said to the elf.   
“Right, sorry, my apologies,” The elf said climbing to his feet.  
“Um, Merlin?” Arthur asked.   
“Not the time Arthur,” Merlin said, looking rather exhausted. He placed a few credits on the bar and got up, headed outside. Arthur followed, confused. 

“What happened to you?” Arthur asked Merlin, angry that his friend had become so violent and aggressive with his magic.  
“History has never been kind to those with magic,” Merlin said, collapsing against a building in an alleyway.   
“You told me magic wasn’t inherently evil, yet here you are, corrupted by it! My own manservant, using dark magic!” Arthur spat at him.   
“I’m not your manservant Arthur!” Merlin growled, “you really don’t get it do you?” he yelled, sliding down the wall, exhausted from all the energy he’d expelled with the massive show of magic. “It’s been a night’s rest to you but it’s been millenia for me! I’ve been waiting for you, someone who’s never cared about me, for so long. I watched everyone I ever knew die, for several hundred lifetimes. I’ve gotten to the point of begging for death, I’ve attempted it myself. Do you know how many times I’ve been kicked, shot, stabbed? Because I don’t, I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve received a mortal wound just to wake back up, pain shooting through my body. It wasn’t fun Arthur, it never has been!” He said, crumbling in a small ball on the floor.   
Arthur looked down at him, seeing him not for the powerful dark sorcerer he’d become, but the scared young boy he was.   
“I’m sorry.” Arthur said. “I’m sorry you’ve become this way. But I’m even more sorry that my father was right.”   
Merlin’s breath caught in his throat. He looked up at his friend, tears in his eyes. Arthur didn’t look at his friend.   
“What do you mean Arthur, I was protecting us!” Merlin said.  
“No, you were, torturing that man,” Arthur said, “They’re right to try and stop this magic, and so was my father. I agree he was wrong with his methods…” he trailed off, “I’m sorry Merlin. I have to go.”   
“No, Arthur…” Merlin said, but his heart wasn’t in it. He was so beat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized I'm using inches instead of centimeters. Oops. Oh well.


	6. Chapter 6

Merlin watched Arthur walk away. He pinched himself. He had to be dreaming. The pinches became punches, and he wore himself out, falling asleep watching the maglevs pass.   
––   
Arthur decided to change up his plan, hoping that he wouldn’t be followed. He knew leaving Merlin left him alone in an unfamiliar city with no money or real knowledge about even the time period, in fact he’d hardly ever been alone in his life. He got off at Erinoki. 

Similarly to Goriddo, this neighborhood was not as clean as Cyfarthafa, though it was in much better state. The tram station was right next to the river, which looking in, had black water filled with all forms of grime. Arthur walked into the nearest pub. It’s glowing neon sign was in japanese though, so Arthur couldn’t read it. He hoped they spoke welsh or english because otherwise he’d be out of luck.   
“Hello there.” a very friendly looking young lady smiled, bussing tables.   
“Greetings, I was wondering if I might be able to get a job?” He asked.  
The young lady smiled brightly.  
“We do have openings, but I’m not sure you would be the best candidate.” She giggled.   
“Why not?” He asked,   
“Well, usually our patrons… well they like women,” She said.   
Arthur was confused.   
“Only women work here?” Arthur asked, looking around.   
“No, silly, but we only have openings for girls,” she said, “it’s a strip club, sir.”   
“A what?” Arthur asked.   
“You’re not from around here are you,” she laughed.   
“No, not really,” Arthur admitted.   
She smiled a look of pity in her eyes.   
“Well I’m sure one of the ladies could help you, a seat is 10 credits, a dance 5,” She said  
“I don’t have any money,” Arthur told her.   
“Hm,” she said, looking disappointed, “I’m gonna have to ask you to leave then,”   
“Do you know where I can find a job?” He asked.   
“Not here,” She said, smile fading.   
“Right, but do you know of any other–”   
“You need to leave,” She said, lighting crackling between her fingers, “now.”   
He backed up,   
“Right, sorry, I’m leaving,” He said and hurried out the door. 

Arthur really didn’t understand this city. He decided to leave the so called “red light district” since he had no idea what it even meant, and nobody seemed to want to stop and talk; the women must’ve been too cold and the men all seemed to be averting eye contact. Arthur got back on the maglev tram. 

 

He decided to get off in Jooji Machi, try and figure out what Emrys meant. “Matrix End” seemed like as good a pub as any.   
There were just elves here, and man were they tall. Not taller than the Trolls, but tall all the same. They all had beautiful faces, pointy ears, and long blonde or ginger hair with fair skin.   
“Can I ask you about Emrys?” Arthur asked  
“We don’t serve your kind here,” The bartender said wiping down the counter.  
Arthur did notice quite a few eyes on him.   
“Is there anyone who would?” Arthur sighed.   
The elf scoffed.   
“Not in Jooji, now frag off, you’re disturbing my patrons.” the man said.   
Arthur left begrudgingly. He headed under the maglev but met the same backlash in Morugan Machi, that is until he noticed movement under a bridge.   
“Psst,” A young elf hidden in the shadows hissed.   
Arthur walked over. The elf wasn’t like any he’d seen, he was covered in short velvety fur that appeared black, but as he moved, it shone blue, like a Grackle or something.   
“I heard you want to know about Emrys?” The kid said.  
“Can you tell me about him?” Arthur asked  
“Yeah, but Elder Windhelm would be better at it,” the elf said, “follow me.”   
And with that the elf climbed into a tunnel below the bridge. Arthur followed awkwardly.   
“I saw you trying to talk to the elves,” the kid said.  
“Yes, they really are quite rude,” Arthur said.  
“Our elven kin are quite racist, they only like themselves it seems, very vain, we reside mostly underground because of them,” The kid told him.   
“What asses,” Arthur said.   
The kid nodded.   
“That’s for sure.”   
The tunnel was fairly long, but it opened up into a open space of dimly lit open buildings. There were hardly any solid walls, just japanese style buildings with paper walls and pipe roofs, the only light came from inside them, making each of the hundreds of buildings appear to glow. Elves of all fur colors walked amongst the buildings, some carrying baskets of food, others with boxes or children. Something about it all felt like home.   
“Follow me,” The elf said, scuttling down the rocky side of the cavern and down a street.   
Arthur jogged after him, his eyes still adjusting to the dim light. They stopped in front of a tea shop, apparently called “土橋園.”  
“He’s probably in there, I’ll head home, I have to get supper ready for my sisters,” the kid said, “I’ll see you around though, here’s my address if you need a place to stay,” he handed Arthur a slip of paper.   
“Thanks you...” Arthur trailed off.   
“Dáire, Dáire Roderick,” The kid smiled,  
“Thank you very much Dáire,” Arthur said,   
“Any time,” The kid disappeared into the darkness. 

Arthur walked into the tea shop, looking around for the oldest looking elf, but there was only one man and he looked as old as any of the others. His fur was dark green with a few specks of grey around his eyes and nose.   
“Do you know where I can find Elder Windhelm?” Arthur asked.  
“I should hope so, since I am Elder Windhelm,” The elf said.   
Arthur didn’t want to offend the elf so he stayed silent.   
“Don’t be fooled by my appearance, us elves have long lifespans,” The elf said.   
“Do you know who Emrys is?” Arthur asked  
“Of course.”   
“Can you tell me about him?”  
“Certainly,” he said as Arthur sat, “let’s see where to start… At the beginning of time there were few humans on Earth, and the humans that did exist were no match for the beasts that had roamed the earth longer with natural weapons such as antlers or claws. That was where magic came in, it was a gift to humans from the gods, this became the ‘Séo Eufiestnys’ or ‘the Old Religion.’” The Elf said, “The magic was so powerful it allowed humans to rise above the beasts, becoming the highest creatures. At some point magic became so ingrained in society that it manifest itself as a human. Two were born, no one knows when or where, but there were definitely two; one from magic, and one of magic. That is Emrys.”  
“Wait, what do you mean two?” Arthur asked.   
The old elf took a single credit from his pocket,   
“This coin has two sides, right?”   
“Yes.”   
“But you would still consider it one coin, right?”  
“Yes, but–”  
“That’s how this is. It’s confusing yes, but Emrys is the embodiment of magic itself,” the man said, “Emrys appears to us as the a powerful sorcerer, the most powerful of all time, anything he wishes, he can will into existence. Nobody knows when he was born or when he’ll die, but he is not to be trifled with.”   
“Is he… real?” Arthur asked awkwardly.   
The old elf nodded,  
“As real as you or I. He looks as normal as one of us, the only way you can tell him from any other sorcerer is his eyes; they glow amber when he uses magic. Which is why we must treat everyone with respect.”   
“Is he… evil?” Arthur asked.   
“Is the wind evil?”   
“No,” Arthur said,  
“Just like the wind, magic cannot be evil nor good, the wind can do bad things, like knock over an old man, such as myself,” he chuckled, “but it is not inherently bad, magic is a force of nature and Emrys is magic,”   
“I think I understand,” Arthur said with a nod.   
“You’ve met Emrys before, haven’t you?” the elf asked.   
“Yes, how do you know?” Arthur asked.   
“You have an ancient protection ward around your soul. I’ve only seen it once before,” Windhelm said.   
“Where?” Arthur asked.   
“Dáire Roderick actually,” the old elf said  
“Oh no,” Arthur said getting up, “I have to go.”


	7. Chapter 7

Arthur ran out onto the street, following numbers until he got to the house on the paper. It took awhile but he managed.  
“Dáire!” Arthur yelled, thankful to find him alone in his kitchen.   
“Oh hi Arthur!” Dáire said, “you deciding to stay over?”   
“Oh thank goodness, I thought Merlin was here,”   
“Nah he’s not, are you looking for him?”   
“You need to stay away from him,”   
“Why? He told me to look after you,”   
“He what?”   
“Yeah he’s told me all about you, said if anything happened to him I should take care of you, where is he anyway? Is he ok?”   
“Yeah, we had a falling out, what did he tell you?”   
“Just a bit about when you two were younger, he really cares about you,”   
Arthur nodded, trying not to think about it, looking around.  
“Where are your parents?” Arthur asked after finding no evidence of anyone older than Dáire in the room.   
“They died in a mining accident,” He said not looking up from the miso soup he was cooking.  
“I’m sorry,” Arthur said.  
“That’s life, it happens a lot, cave ins,” Dáire shrugged.  
Arthur sat silently for a second, the only sound the swishing of the dashi as he mixed in some tofu. Arthur looked like he wanted to say something, but was holding back.  
“What is it?” Dáire asked looking over at him.   
“Well why don’t they use robots in the mines?”   
“Night Ones are cheaper than robots,” He said.   
He was right, out of all the metatypes, the Night Ones were treated the worst, hence why they lived underground.   
“That’s terrible,” Arthur said shaking his head. “That’s hardly a reason. 

Arthur was invited to stay the night, and since he had no other form of shelter, he decided to take Dáire up on the offer. So Arthur, Dáire, and his three sisters, Medi, Cristyn, and Lili had supper together. 

The next day Arthur decided to head down to the orkish side of town, then over to the dwarven side. He took a serving of homemade ramen for lunch, said goodbye to the Rodericks, and headed up to ground level. 

The maglev trams were full this time of day, everyone was headed off to work. Ysgubor Atarashi was the next stop from Toyon Machi, under which the Night Ones lived, so Arthur's ride was hardly any time. Ysgubor Atarashi was, like many other areas of the city, very dirty. Although here there was more clutter. It wasn't just food wrappers or other normal garbage littering the ground streets, abandoned car parts, old clothes, metal scraps, even old appliances were everywhere. Arthur practically had to climb over the mess. There was a group of young orks gathered around a pile of trash, talking. They were all still children, they looked younger than Dáire, but the ages for different metatypes were all over the place.   
“Hey, do you kids know a good place to meet people?” Arthur asked them.   
They laughed,   
“Orks or humans?” one asked, a mean grin crossing his features.   
“There are humans here?” Arthur asked.   
The kids all laughed.  
“You could meet both at the Ring,” One of the quieter ones said.  
The others laughed again.   
“Oh you’ll meet both alright,”  
“The Ring?” Arthur asked.  
“It’s in Abakanaido, on the ass end of the city,” the kid said.   
“Alright, thanks,” Arthur said.  
The kids almost seemed surprised to hear it said.  
“Good luck squish,” one sneered. 

Since there wasn’t a main line down to Abakanaido, it took longer than usual on the maglev, but it was still like lightning to Arthur. He got off on the very last stop and followed the crowds underground to what appeared to be an illegal bare knuckle boxing ring.   
“Look boys we’ve got a breeder!” the booker yelled the second he saw Arthur, “get ‘im up here!”   
Arthur tried to protest as he was pushed into the ring.   
“What’s your name?” The fat orkish booker asked him.  
“Arthur,” Arthur said looking around.   
“Arthur! Versus the reigning champion, Glafnog!” He yelled.  
Out of the back lumbered a huge ork, easily twice the size of Arthur. His hand could easily palm Arthur’s face, his feet could crush his spine, he was huge and menacing.   
“Ever wonder why we call you guys 'squish?'” the booker teased.


	8. Chapter 8

Arthur was lead down onto the cage everyone was standing around. The fencing surrounded the blood stained concrete was around 10 feet tall and sturdy as anything. He was given the choice between a few weapons but grabbed the arming sword before looking at them all. He tested the blade with his fingers, but found it dulled, that made him relax slightly, knowing it wasn’t a fight to the death. The giant looking ork lumbered over to the arming rack and hoisted a heavy axe over his shoulder. They were sat down on a stood and vaseline was applied to their arms and faces by a couple young orks.   
“Good luck man, he’s pretty mean,” The kid helping Arthur said.   
“What do you mean?” Arthur asked, he figured everyone here was “pretty mean.” But then he noticed the bruising around the kid’s chin.   
“He’s just mean, alright,” The kid said quickly.   
“Where are your parents?” Arthur asked.   
The kid snorted a sad laugh out.   
“Good luck,” He said and finished up.   
His opponent stood and pushed the Cutboy applying vaseline to his arms out of the way with his axe. He growled deeply and charged at Arthur, axe raised Arthur shoved the kid out of the way and blocked the axe as it came down with his sword, but the ork was strong. He pushed the sword down onto Arthur’s shoulder, and had it been sharpened properly, he’d have cut his own skin. Arthur sidestepped and swung the sword around striking the ork on his back with the broad edge of his sword. The ork arched his back in and roared in pain, swinging his axe towards Arthur who jumped backwards so just the air passed in front of him, making his shirt ripple in the breeze. He brought his sword down on the back of the ork’s neck, drawing another roar of pain, and another frantic swing, that he dodged easily. He darted behind the ork and slashed the sword across the ork’s calves, hard enough to draw blood and knock him to his knees. As he came around though, the ork caught him in the elbow with the broad side of the axe. There was a crack and Arthur could feel what seemed to be a bone shattering. His sword clattered to the floor, and the ork pushed him against the wall of the octagon. Only then as the cheers changed from excited to what sounded like boos did he notice the crowd. They were behind him, they all wanted Arthur to win. They wanted the human to beat the ork, despite being orks themselves. Arthur figured it didn’t matter the metatype, everyone hated a bully. He slipped out under the axe as the ork tried to punch him in the face, rolled across the cement and grabbed his sword with his bad arm, and swung it around cutting the ork’s back open. He roared in pain and fell to the floor, backing up against the fencing, begging for his life as Arthur pointed the sword at his throat.  
“I yield, I yield, you’ve won!” The ork cried, tears in his eyes as he realized the human didn’t know the rules. The Cutboys rushed out to pull Arthur away, but he simply dropped the sword and offered his good hand to help the ork up. The crowd erupted in cheers.   
The fencing was raised up towards the ceiling and the crowd rushed the octagon, lifting Arthur on their shoulders. A man in a striped shirt handed Arthur a large golden belt, the belt his opponent had carried in. He raised it with his good arm and the crowd cheered, parading him around. 

From on their shoulders he could see an old man walk out with a small smirk, something about his wrinkled face felt familiar. He shook his head and ignored it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its short, I have way less time now; I got a job...

**Author's Note:**

> I have been stuck at so many airports the past week.


End file.
